2009 Archiveshttp://benchedwhale.com/table/2009-articles/april-2009/
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 22:23:54 +0000Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Managementen-gbCanucks recall...Jeff Cowan?http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/canucks-recall-jeff-cowan.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/canucks-recall-jeff-cowan.htmlJeff Cowan is on his way back to Vancouver. Do people even know that he still plays for Vancouver? I didn't. He was recalled this morning from Peoria of the AHL to the Canucks. What does this mean? Nothing really. His team was eliminated from the from the playoffs 2 days ago, and the Manitoba Moose are just about to start their second round of the AHL playoffs.]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Fri, 01 May 2009 03:01:00 +0000Guest Post at Cycle Like the Sedins: Round 2http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/guest-post-at-cycle-like-the-sedins-round-2.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/guest-post-at-cycle-like-the-sedins-round-2.htmlYour Vancity Canuck is again writing on Cycle Like the Sedins' mini-blog for the Canucks vs. Blackhawks series. James O'Brien of CLS has invited me to be part of his awesome mini-blogs and has let me ramble on again about the Canucks.

This series will again have a blogger from other team, so this time round, Clare, from All Hawks Hockey will be also posting. I will again try to cross post, or at least update you with the links. If you have any suggestions or want to submit something send me an e-mail. I'll be a little late with my initial postings, and the postings after the home games, because I'm freakin going to them! (well except for Game 1, but rdizzle will be there). Wooooo!

So check out the CLS mini-blog here: Canucks vs. Blackhawks or on the blog list on the right.]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:00:00 +0000NBC get's their dream match-uphttp://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/nbc-gets-their-dream-match-up.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/nbc-gets-their-dream-match-up.htmlIn case you gave up watching the East because the West finished last night, there were two game 7's on tonight. You might have missed a few things:

The Caps WON over the Rangers. That's right, Fedorov gets his first goal in the playoffs with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd period to break the 1-1 tie that held through much of the game. They were trailing 3-1 in the series, and game back and won game 7. For Caps fans, you gotta be happy this game didn't turn out like last year. It was pointed out that Varlamov now wants his name to be pronounced "Var-LOM-ov" instead of how the commentators have been pronouncing it.

New Jersey fans can't believe it. What a collapse of the Devils in those last 2 minutes....Brodeur well...tomorrow he will wake up thinking that Bettman engineered this marketing genius:

NBC presents:Washington Caps vs. Pittsburgh Penguins!

With the upset of the cardiac Canes over the Devils, the Pens will now play the Caps. I cannot wait for the photoshops and the jobbing to come out of The Pensblog (the original, not the pansy version). The first game starts on ThursdaySaturday on NBC at 1pm ET (10am PT).

After a 4-1 win over the Flames, the Blackhawks win the series. The Sharks can't beat the Ducks and lose 4-1.

Round 2: Canucks vs. Blackhawks]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:05:00 +0000Too long of a break?http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/too-long-of-a-break.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/too-long-of-a-break.htmlYou know this is going to be a tough week for the Vancouver sports media and fans. The earliest game for the Canucks vs. X opponent will be Friday or Saturday. These past few days have been pretty hard, it's like being in Canuck withdrawl. As we have never swept a 7 game series, we've never had to feel this waiting before. We could ask Detroit fans how it feels like, but I have never met many of them that I actually like.

The Canucks media will have another few days to write stories about nothing. Don't you find they have been doing that over the past few days? Want some examples?

-Gallagher has starting talking about the salary cap and the Sedins' contract. Hate to break it to Mr. Negativity, but he'll have plenty of time to talk about salary caps and contracts in June.

-Botchford wrote about Luongo's puck handling. In the article Kevin Bieksa says: "He's good at playing the puck." Luongo isn't awful at handling the puck, but he ain't great. Turco or Brodeur is good at playing the puck, if given the choice, I would prefer Luongo to stay in the crease, not become the extra D man.

-Sundin doesn't know if he will be ready to play game 1. Hopefully he can decide if he is ready in the next 5 days, this time he has a time limit rather than taking say....6 months?

-Ed Willes posts THIS article about media and Luongo. With excerpts of: "That's a good question. But before I answer it, I want to talk about something that's been bothering me; something you guys have missed. First off, let me say Roberto Luongo is not an embellisher. I'm not going to name names, like Miikka Kiprusoff, but Roberto would never put on an act. That's why I think what's been going on is a disgrace. The league has said it will protect the goalies but they're treating Roberto like a human piñata out there. He won't say anything, of course. That's why I'm bringing it up."*may not have been actually said

Ed, the Vancouver fans can't figure out when you media type are joking. They couldn't figure it out when the Kurtenblog posted THIS in the Province either.So as you can see from the above examples, this week will be a hard one on the media for coming up with new stories.

They will have some opponent analysis depending on how the San Jose/Anaheim game goes tomorrow, if Anaheim and Calgary wins, the poll questions can switch to, who do you want to play more Chicago or Calgary? If both Anaheim and Chicago wins tomorrow everything in the West will be wrapped up and we can move onto the pre-series analysis.Random hockey related stories:-AFlyers draft pick is charged with killing referee and burying body. Of all the NHL teams this guy was drafted through, it had to be the Flyers.-Want to see what a broken finger looks like? Matt Walker blocked a shot during the game on Saturday night, check out the reaction from the fans behind the bench when he took off his gloves.]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:44:00 +0000Ranger letter to Gary Bettmanhttp://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/ranger-letter-to-gary-bettman.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/ranger-letter-to-gary-bettman.htmlSo now that the Canucks are on a ridiculously long break, I have had the chance to catch up on things, like, um life. This morning I watched the Caps win and push the Caps/Rangers series to 7 games. Can they come back from being down 3-1 in the series? Or will they lose like they did last year to the Flyers in overtime?

Regardless, Tuesday night's game will be a watcher. In case you missed it, Tortorella was suspended for squirting a fan with water, then throwing the bottle at the fan. If you want a video of it, click here or here (the second one doesn't have sound, just a replay of the bottle going over the glass). So Tortorella got suspended for game 6, and the Caps won but ESPN posted a letter than the Glen Sather from Rangers organization sent to Gary Bettman, it's worth a read.Dear Gary:In addition to your suspension of Coach Tortorella for his actions during last night's game, we respectfully request that you consider appropriate discipline in light of Washington's gross negligence in ensuring the safety of the personnel on the Rangers' bench, including Coach Tortorella, in the face of the Rangers' repeated requests for intervention against egregious fan misconduct during Game 5. As importantly, we would like the League's intervention to ensure that there are adequate security measures in place to protect our personnel in the event there is a Game 7 in Washington.

Neither the NHL nor either team has had the opportunity to conduct a full investigation or to interview all witnesses but the television coverage and the statements made by Rangers bench personnel make clear that Washington utterly failed in its security obligations to the Rangers, not to mention its own fans. The tension was evident from before the opening face-off. Throughout the game, several people seated immediately behind the visitors' bench took advantage of the looseness of the glass panels and the unusually wide gaps between the panels to assault the Rangers with some of the most obscene language imaginable.

Because of the way the glass is installed, the patron sitting behind Coach Tortorella (the gray-haired, bearded man in the white T-Shirt) could literally scream into the coach's ear. According to Rangers trainer Jim Ramsay, one patron was screaming at the team, in graphic language, about whether Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have a sexual relationship. This was within earshot of several children seated nearby. Several other fans also made repeated homophobic remarks. Moreover, Mr. Ramsay reported that he and other bench personnel were spit on by one or more "fans" as they yelled through the gaps in the glass.

Your statement tonight referred to alerting security. In the first period, Mr. Ramsay warned the security guard stationed on the nearest stairwell (a large African-American man) that the situation was unacceptable and was likely to get ugly. No action was taken. The misconduct continued. In the second period, Mr. Ramsay warned a female security supervisor that some fans were out of control and that he was concerned that something unfortunate was going to happen. Although this supervisor was equipped with a radio, she apparently took no action, because the same fans were in their seats when the team returned to the bench for the third period. According to press accounts, no fans were ever ejected or permanently removed from their seats.

Washington's failure to respond to what its personnel knew -- and were specifically warned -- was a potentially dangerous situation contributed significantly to this unfortunate incident. Accordingly, we respectfully request that you consider imposing appropriate discipline on Washington for its knowing failure to protect the Rangers and prevent the situation from deteriorating into an incident that reflects badly on all of us. In addition, we must immediately discuss how Washington is going to handle security for any Game 7. Neither the Rangers nor the well-behaved Capitals fans should be forced to endure the extraordinary level of fan misconduct that Washington failed to prevent in Game 5.

Thank you for your consideration.

Glen-From ESPN]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:47:00 +0000Great goals...http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/great-goals.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/great-goals.htmlThese videos came up in conversation last night and Rdizzle hasn't seen them yet. The first one is Ovechkin's goal from game 5. The second one is Kyle Wellwood's goal.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO1TuEp8eqI&hl=en&fs=1]]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:26:00 +0000Around the NHL and World Hockeyhttp://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/around-the-nhl-and-world-hockey.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/around-the-nhl-and-world-hockey.html1. The Ducks can win the series tonight! They are up 3-1 over the Sharks, and the last game of the Sharks was...er...PATHETIC. Fear the Fin thinks a win would be peachy. So does the friend I gave a Black Armour jersey to....but as a Canucks fan, an Anaheim win tonight means two things: 1a. Canucks will have home ice advantage1b. Canucks DON'T have to play detroit, yetSo, for tonight, go Ducks!2. Pittsburgh can end the series against the Flyers this afternoon. They just need Fleury be better than Biron, the Pens lead series 3-2.Watch the game and play the drinking game.3. Stamkos got two goals against Belarus at the IIHF World Championships. Canada won 6-1 in their first game. The Belarusian head coach, Glen Hanlon is from Vancouver and used to play in goal for the Canucks. Notably, Hanlon allowed Gretzky's first NHL goal.4. Canada will play Hungary next in the IIHF Worlds tomorrow, it's on TSN at 1:30pm PT. Watch it (it's tape delayed so don't check the score before). The Hungarians are a huge underdog, haven't play at the World level since 1939, they have now gotten back to the top 16 in the world. This game will be something like 12-0, clearly for the Canadians. I've facebooked all of my hungarian relatives of that prediction.Interesting note: The hungarian team has only 2 drafted players, goalie Levente Szuper and forward Janos Vas. They have a lawyer and a phys ed teacher playing for them like it's drop in hockey."This is like their Stanley Cup,'' explained Hungarian coach Pat Cortina, who was born and raised in Montreal. "This is the hockey Mecca for them. Just the type of building and the way the players are treated in the `A' pool is so important. They don't have conditions like this too often.'' "This is like their Stanley Cup,'' explained Hungarian coach Pat Cortina, who was born and raised in Montreal. "This is the hockey Mecca for them. Just the type of building and the way the players are treated in the `A' pool is so important. They don't have conditions like this too often.''-from CTV Olympics5. Chris Mason will be in goal for Canada when they play Hungary tomorrow. "Mason didn't even have time to do an exit interview with Blues coach Andy Murray before he was on a plane to Switzerland to answer the call of his country. He simply loves putting on the Maple Leaf" -CTV Olympics.]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:34:00 +0000Statement from Pyatthttp://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/statement-from-pyatt.html
http://benchedwhale.com/2009-articles/april-2009/statement-from-pyatt.htmlYesterday Pyatt returned to the team and issued this statement:“I would like to thank my teammates, coaches and the entire Canucks organization for their tremendous compassion and support during this very difficult time for myself, my family and the entire Bragnalo family. I would also like to thank the passionate fans of the Canucks for their support and the media who have given us the respect and time to grieve in private. I loved Carly very much. My family and I will forever miss her. At this difficult time for our families it is my wish to not speak about our loss publically. Thank you.”-from Canucks.comMore from the Brad Zeimer of the Vancouver Sun or Jim Jameison of The Province.]]>thevancitycanuck@gmail.com (Dani Toth)April 2009Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:15:00 +0000